We begin with a video delivering searing proof that people can be bullied at any age. A basketball coach from rutgers university caught on tape attacking his college players, some of them scholarship kids, some of them apparently enduring it for years. Today that coach was fired and he spoke out about what everyone can now see thanks to an espn investigate and abc's gio benitez has the latest tonight. Reporter: Watch as rutgers head basketball coach mike rice rages at his players. Grabbing them, kicking them, even firing a basketball at one player's head. If that isn't enough, there's the verbal abuse -- the anti-gay slurs. You -- fairies! Reporter: Today, less than 24 hours after espn aired that video, rice was out, fired by rutgers. This morning, rice apologized. I've let so many people down. My players, my administration, rutgers university, the fans. My family who's sitting in their house just huddled around because of the fact that their father was an embarrassment to them. Reporter: The fact is, rutgers knew about rice's behavior and that tape months ago. They briefly suspended him and sent him to anger management, but they didn't fire him until the tapes became public. What it says about college sports is that it takes the media to police them and to make sure they're clean. That's a very sad thought,hat these athletic directors and these coaches don't understand that they're leading young people. Reporter: Today the university's athletic director also apologized, saying, I was wrong. Moving forward, I will work to REGAIN THExD TRUST OF THE RUTGERS Community. But remember is the same school that vowed to crack down on bullying in 2010 when a gay student committed suicide after being tormented by his roommate. And today, parents of the players say their trust has been betrayed. Stacy williams' son, austin johnson, just finished his senior season on the team. I think I might have failed him, because if I had known the grafity of the situation, i would have more strongly counselled him to leave when he began to become uncomfortable. Did the players ever think of getting together and taking action on their own? Reporter: You know what, diane, some of them actually were afraid of losing those scholarships. They thought they if they campaigned they would lose them. The mother tells me, this was part of the basketball culture, that they should just stand tough.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

Rutgers Coach Fired for 'Abuse' Video

Rice was fired by Rutgers after video of his belittling players surfaced.

Fired Rutgers Coach 'Deeply Sorry' for Kicking Players

Basketball coach Mike Rice told WABC "there's no excuse" for his actions which surfaced on video.